Hypable reports that the movie was filmed in the same time span as Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle — films that earned Jennifer and Bradley a collective four Oscar nominations, with Jen taking home the Best Actress statue for Playbooks. Given the box office success of the two movies, not to mention the Oscar nods and the star power of the two actors, it doesn't seems practical to skip a theatrical release for Serena.

Yet here we are.

Movie critics chimed in with possible explanations, citing everything from poor reviews to the 18 months the movie spent in post-production.

Serena is "not bad enough," Vulture claims. The site writes, "Some of its flaws are obvious: Bier has no feel for the Smoky Mountains, or the Depression, or, really, America, and the story doesn’t flow with any particular coherence, let alone momentum. Other flaws are harder to pin down. The tone is distressingly subdued for a film that’s ostensibly about rapacious ambition run amok. The script never really decides whether Serena is a calculating cutthroat or a winsome woodland foundling. (Or neither. Or both!)"

The New York Post panned Bradley and Jennifer's performances, saying he "struggles with a Boston accent," while she "has trouble making believable an eagle-training independent woman who goes mad after a miscarriage and the discovery that she may have to share her husband’s love with his newborn illegitimate son."

Back in September, the Hollywood Reporter noted that multiple distributors passed on picking up the movie, even when three different versions were cut. One potential buyer reportedly said, "The film was so edited, it made no sense."

Curious to see if the video-on-demand decision is justified? You can rent Serena on Google Plus today.